Posts Tagged ‘India’

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Maths paper “which makes no sense mathematically” first published and then retracted

December 6, 2012

Acharya Sennimalai Kalimuthu strikes again! And Elsevier as publishers do look like idiots.

Back in April I posted about a paper by Kalimuthu which was first published in Computers & Mathematics with Applications and then retracted because it “lacked scientific content”.

This time he managed to get a paper published in Applied Mathematics Letters

For the origin of new geometry, by S. Kalimuthu, 2/394, Kanjampatti P.O., Pollachi Via, Tamil Nadu 642003, India. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aml.2010.08.006,

 He has 12 references – all self-citations. The paper has now been retracted because it “makes no sense mathematically”. The title itself should have been a give-away but the paper was published in December 2010 and it has taken 2 years to be retracted.

This paper does not meet the minimum research and mathematical standards of Applied Mathematics Letters; for example, some of this paper’s constructions and arguments make no sense mathematically. Though handled by the previous editorial office, the available records lead us to believe its publication was the result of an administrative oversight and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected earlier.

In both cases Elsevier was the unfortunate publisher. This does not say much for the “peer-review” process at Elsevier which allowed such rubbish to be published. First I wondered if Kalimuthu might be an unrecognised genius until I read his two papers. You do not need to be an advanced mathematician to appreciate the absurdities. His two papers are

Sivasubramanian and Kalimuthu

kalimuthu 2

After the 5th reading of his second paper I managed to figure out the central claim:

Our constructions and proofs are consistent. We have not introduced any new hypothesis in this work. . ….. But we have pointed out in the abstract that the fifth Euclidean postulate problem is one of the most famous mathematical impossibilities. So, although our finding is consistent, it poses a very serious question about the foundations of geometry.

… we have obtained a challenging result, namely the smaller side of triangle AHJ is equal to the larger side BC of triangle ABC. This is a problematic problem.

Further studies will certainly unlock this mathematical mystery.

No doubt the further studies will be first published and then retracted by Elsevier.

Retraction Watch covers the story and actually took the time to write to Kalimuthu for his comments on the retraction. His reply will surely go down as a classic:

“Please and please note that I do NOT agree with retraction of this relevant paper.Can you tell me WHAT IS THE FLAW? AND WHERE IS THE FLAW? A result is a result, A result is a result, A result is a result, and A result is a result,.Let us recall what Einstein told about simplicity: IF YOU CAN NOT PUT YOUR IDEA IN SIMPLE, IT SHOWS THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW THE SUBJECT. Who is expert? We are all so called experts. Only God is expert. I am going to re write this particular paper in 20 long pages and get published. Kindly note that papers rejected by referees and editors have won the NOBEL PRIZE.”

But what on earth was Elsevier playing at to publish such drivel.

Once was bad enough but twice???

Either Kalimuthu has some kind of genius in being able to get papers without scientific content and which make no mathematical sense published or the Elsevier peer-review process is a farce.

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Posted in Academic misconduct, India, Mathematics, Peer review | 1 Comment »

Diwali lights are not visible from space

December 6, 2012

I have posted earlier about the composite image from 2003 but taken over many years and which has purported to be an image of India during Diwali but which was not.

Now a real image actually taken of South Asia on Diwali night (November 12th/13th) this year has been released by NASA and they write: “In reality, any extra light produced during Diwali is so subtle that it is likely imperceptible when observed from space”.

India 20121112 Diwali NASA

NASA reports: 

Every fall, Hindus around the world light lamps, candles, and firecrackers as part of a five-day festival known as Diwali. The celebration, which has roots as a harvest festival, usually falls between mid-October and mid-November. In 2012, it began on November 11.

On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of southern Asia. The image is based on data collected by the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared. The image has been brightened to make the city lights easier to distinguish.

Most of the bright areas are cities and towns in India, the country with the world’s largest Hindu population. India is home to more than 1.2 billion people and has 30 cities with populations over 1 million. (For comparison, China has 62 cities with more than 1 million residents and the United States has 9). Cities in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan are also visible near the edges of the image.

An image that claims to show the region lit for Diwali has been circulating on social media websites and the Internet in recent years. In fact, it does not show what it claims. That image, based on data from the Operational Linescan System flown on U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, is a color-composite created in 2003 by NOAA scientist Chris Elvidge to highlight population growth over time. In that image, white areas show city lights that were visible prior to 1992, while blue, green, and red shades indicate city lights that became visible in 1992, 1998, and 2003 respectively.

In reality, any extra light produced during Diwali is so subtle that it is likely imperceptible when observed from space.

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European Gypsies (Roma) descended from the ancestors of NW Indian Adivasis

November 30, 2012

While the Indian origin of the European Roma populations is linguistically and genetically well-established, accurate identification of their South Asian source has remained a matter of debate. A new open access paper PLoS ONE 7(11): e48477. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048477 now pinpoints the ancestry of today’s Roma to the ancestors of the Adivasi (“original people)  tribes of North West India.

The Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup H1a1a-M82 Reveals the Likely Indian Origin of the European Romani Populations, Niraj Rai et al.

I note , in passing, that the discrimination and “oppression” of the current Roma populations across all of Europe is not so unlike the discrimination and “oppression” being suffered by their distant cousins who are the current Adivasis in India.

Out of India Migration Rai et al

(more…)

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Posted in Anthropology, Behaviour, Evolution, India, Language | Comments Off on European Gypsies (Roma) descended from the ancestors of NW Indian Adivasis

The India “Diwali night” photograph – that wasn’t

November 23, 2012

I received this 5 times by email.

The picture purports to be from NASA of Diwali night as seen from space. (This year Diwali was on 13th November).

It is indeed from NASA, it is from space and it is at night. But it is not on a Diwali night and is actually a composite picture of night illumination over many years to try and show population increase. Even the colours are not real. It was circulated widely at this time last year as well. But as Robert Johnson of Business Insider points out:

The photo is an overlay of shots highlighting India’s burgeoning population over several years. The white lights were the only illumination visible before 1992. The blue lights appeared in 1992. The green lights in 1998. And the red lights appeared in 2003.

Current speculation suggests the lights are a result of the Hindu celebration Diwali, or the celebration of lights, held from mid-October to mid-November, but NASA was unable to confirm what time of year the shots were taken.

…. NASA says there are no more recent versions available.

India composite – image ngdc.noaa.gov

original image:

high res image

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Posted in India, Trivia | 1 Comment »

UK cancellation of rail contract is in the style of Indian contracts

October 3, 2012

Large public contracts in India are often plagued by claims of favouritism, rigged specifications to suit a particular bidder, rigged evaluations, bid cancellations, vicious publicity campaigns by the protagonists and innumerable rebids. It is not uncommon for high profile complaints by a bidder after losing a bid to lead to a reversal of an award decision. The more high profile the complaint is and the closer in time a complaint is to an election, the more likely it is that a reversal of a decision can be achieved. The sales process in India does not end when a contract is awarded and any self-respecting sales manager does not stop until he has tried all available avenues to reverse an award decision which has gone against his bid. The primary avenues available are through approaches to politicians and the bureaucrats involved in the evaluation and award (and these approaches are not always without the appropriate lubricating flows of  money).  For politicians, the bureaucrats are both the potential scapegoats and the potential justification for reversals of decisions. For good and bad, the Indian Civil Service is modeled on the British Civil Service  and the interactions between politicians and bureaucrats in India today have their roots in the methods of the British Raj. Bidding flaws and reversals of contract awards are usually a good indicator for the presence of corruption.

Phases of approval reversals

This story in the UK where high profile complaints from Richard Branson and Virgin Rail has led to the reversal of a decision to award a contract to a competitor could be a story lifted directly from an Indian newspaper. I note that in this case the politicians who have reversed their decision are using bureaucrats as their scapegoat. Who else? And when they make a new award they will surely justify their new decision on the pronouncements of other, more senior bureaucrats. It would seem that the methods of UK politicians and bureaucrats even today are not so different from those of their Indian counterparts. In India though, the opportunities afforded to bureaucrats and politicians by the bidding process have been raised to a much higher level.

The Telegraph:

Government cancels West Coast Mainline contract due to ‘flaws’ in bidding process

FirstGroup’s contract to run the West Coast Mainline has been cancelled by the Government due to “significant technical flaws” in the bidding process, which will be re-run. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said that the flaws “stem from the way the level of risk in the bids was evaluated”.

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Late surge gives some flooding but overall a “normal” 2012 Indian monsoon

September 30, 2012

 

The official 4-month monsoon season in India ends today and the IMD has issued its last press release for this season.

Rainfall was lower than normal in the first two months (-22% at the end of July) and surged somewhat in the final two.  The monsoon takes the shape of a skewed “U” and advances N-W and withdraws to the S-E. The withdrawal of the South-West monsoon is underway but it is slightly delayed and this late withdrawal also helps in bringing additional rainfall especially at the ends of the “U”  in the North-West and the North-East (with flooding recently in Pakistan and Assam).

Withdrawal of 2012 monsoon: IMD

Until September 26th, total rainfall was running about 7% less than the long-term average and within “normal” limits.

2012 Monsoon – Cumulative rainfall till 26th September : IMD

Though total rainfall will be almost “normal”, agricultural production will be slightly disturbed because of the uneven rainfall during the 4 months.

Related: https://ktwop.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/with-3-weeks-to-go-the-indian-monsoon-rains-have-recovered-somewhat/

 

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With 3 weeks to go the Indian monsoon rains have recovered somewhat

September 10, 2012

The Indian monsoon season officially covers the 4 months from June to September. Rainfall after the first 2 months was running some 25% less than “normal” and there were fears of severe effects not only directly on agricultural output but also for the knock-on effects on agriculture-related industry. But with 3 weeks left to go the rains seem to have recovered partially such that the total rainfall is running only 8% less than”normal”.

From IMD

2012 monsoon rainfall till 10th September / image IMD

At the end of July the rainfall map was dominated by “pink” deficient states and with even a couple of “yellow” scanty states. The situation has improved considerably though the late rains will not be as beneficial as they could have been a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, 2012 will probably be considered – statistically – a pretty average year and this monsoon will not be a “bad” one. Since the difference between a “good” monsoon (about +10 -15%) and a bad one (-15%)  is thought to about 2% for the annual GDP, this partial recovery will come as a relief to many.

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Posted in Climate, India, Weather | 1 Comment »

Oh Calcutta!!

July 26, 2012

I finished my schooling in Calcutta and in spite of all its problems and challenges it holds special memories for me.

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Video: India test fires Agni-V ICBM rocket – “Vehicle state is normal”

April 19, 2012

India test fired its Agni-V ICBM today. Initial reports are of a successful launch though details of the 20 minute flight will take some time to be analysed.

The Hindu: India demonstrated its Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capability on Thursday by successfully launching its most powerful and longest range missile, Agni-V, from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast.

The 17-metre-long surface-to-surface ballistic missile lifted off majestically from a rail mobile launcher at 8.04 a.m. After a flight time of 20 minutes, the missile re-entry vehicle impacted the pre-designated target point more than 5,000 kms away in the Indian Ocean with a high degree of accuracy.

Video of the launch ( from two different cameras) has already been posted on You-Tube. I can imagine that the most beautiful words for all those involved was the calm repetition of  the phrase “Vehicle state is normal”.

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Posted in Defense, Development, India, Technology | 2 Comments »

India, Italy to cut renewable energy subsidies

April 4, 2012

Subsidies for renewable energy only distort the market and are counter-productive. The game in renewable energy (wind and solar) has become the extraction of subsidies rather than the production of electricity. The sooner they are dismantled the better.

Two developments in Italy (which is virtually bankrupt) and in India (where growth is slowing) – both driven by economic considerations – are indicators that that some of the artificial gloss around renewable energy may be peeling off. Exorbitant feed-in tariffs for renewable energy are to be curtailed in Italy while very attractive tax-breaks for wind-power in India are to be reduced.

Italy to cut renewable energy subsidies

Italy will move to reduce taxpayer subsidies to its renewable energy sector after last year’s boom in solar power, Industry Minister Corrado Passera says. The official said Saturday in Cernobbio, Italy, that taxpayer subsidies doled out to the wind and solar power industries had generated “excessive” investments in the sector, The Wall Street Journal reported. “Italy has important goals to meet and even surpass,” he said, but added, “we need to do so without over-reliance on taxpayer resources.”

The government, Passera said, will in the coming years “realign” the level of its incentives to those of other European countries. ….

The Hindu Business Line reports on the new budget measures in India. Windmill developers to lose tax breaks

Windmill developers will no longer enjoy lower tax outgo in the first year, for investing in windmills.

Effective April 1, accelerated depreciation – which allows the investing company to fast track the write-off of certain assets for tax purposes – will not be allowed to wind energy developers. The Income Tax department has amended the rules regarding this, through a notification.

Until FY-12, a deduction of up to 80 per cent was allowed if the wind project was commissioned before September of a fiscal. Projects commissioned in the next half of the fiscal got a 40 per cent deduction. Now developers will only be allowed 15 per cent depreciation.

But wind equipments will still enjoy the 20 per cent additional depreciation prescribed for power equipments in the recent Budget. That would make for an effective 35 per cent depreciation. …….

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